Back in the saddle

Earlier this week was a big moment for Tess, when she found herself back in the saddle again, riding Emu in the roundyard. She enjoyed it a lot, and we´re looking forward to going on more rides together. On Sunday Tess and Niki went out for a ride on John Gosper´s land, along the old Railway Track of the Booyong to Ballina railway, and they had a fun time. We´re really happy that Tess is getting back into this. Now talk goes around of both Tess and Yarrow wanting to go back to circus for some gentle personal training as well ... Let´s see...

Woof? Woof!

Walkies

Morning walkies with the Raffles! Beautiful area, isn't it!

Raffie

Sums

Photo A and Photo B do not go together very well. The equation is as follows: (A + B) x S (= speed) = a dog running up the hill, yelping, with its tail between its leg and hiding behind Hans'  legs ... Poor diddums. They say it only takes once for the to learn, and never forget ...

And what a week it was, it was

It was a week. It was one of 'those' weeks. It was the week that was. Looking back, we are wondering how we 'did' this week. Ok, the following goes for either Niki, or Hans, or both of us, including or excluding the girls. We sold a car, had a piano tuned, went to a beach almost two hours south of Byron (Tess drove, and hit a pothole), changed a wheel (see pothole...), fed two hungry girls (every day, as we tend to feed them regularly :), got ourselves a dog (Raphael, Raffles, Raffie, Oi You!), walked long walks with said canine, bought half a cow (one from our neighbour Peter's paddock) and picked it up (in different 'format') form the butcher (4 boxes of the most luscious beef, hmm mmm!), criss-crossed the countryside playing taxi-driver, driving Tess and Yarrow to work, open-aur movies, appointments, etc., oh and we worked, handed in a completed manuscript, received a book that has just come out (Realtime, year 2), bombed the house (as in flea-bombed, oh yeah them li'le critters had taken over the place, hmm, who can we blame - ah the dogs!), did telephone interviews and Skype meetings with friends and publishers, taught a day at the Byron Bay language school, watched a Cinderella ballet at Ton and Ellen's with Tess and Yarrow (yes, we will come back soon to see the other half, and thank you Ellen for making delicious Nasi Goreng), comforted teenage lassies, watched a SF movie en famille but Niki fell asleep to it, had pest control people deal with a termite nest right next to the deck, cleaned the house inside and out (washed the roof, well part of it) and cleaned gutters (which had to emptied of years of, erm, stuff), tidied up veggie patches, went for more long walks with Raffles, and, and, and ... I'm sure there was more, but we are now, Sunday evening, too tired to even t h i n k, o  r   t  y p  e     m   o    r     e         w            o           r       d    zzzzzzzz....

White Christmas

While the rain has picked up again here in the Northern Rivers, cold stories from the Netherlands are reaching us - stories of snow, and skating and, perhaps (!) even an Elfstedentocht... Apparently people are eagerly looking forward to it happening again (see here). My friend Jacomien sent me these two photos - you'd almost want to go there. Better than rain anyday, I say.

Canine

The other day we received an email from Mieke about ‘this dog’ that needed a new home. Less than a week later, three days in fact, after a visit to its owner Linda, in Lismore, which smote (smite, smitted) us, erm, had us smitten with the (as yet) pequeňo canine with da bigga da feet, please meet the latest addition to The Family: (officially) Kobe, a.k.a. Raphael, a.k.a. Raffles and seeming to listen best to a.k.a. Raffie, a 4-month old Staffordshire Terrier – Kelpie cross with a charming character, endless sense of Fun (capitalised, of course) and the most supplicant eyes ever seen on a dog (except for Chicco’s of course). And what does Chicco think about it? Well, she (and her 70-odd years, in human terms that is) has decided she’ll just waddle along, accept the antics of the little toddler and generally be very philosophical about it… In fact, they’re getting on like a house on fire!